Matthew 20:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The prophets had indeed prophesied in detail regarding all His afflictions, and it would have been feasible to reference all their predictions had it not been necessary to broaden their discourse too widely. At that moment, the disciples were oblivious to the prophecies spoken, and as Luke mentions in 18:34, this understanding was concealed from them—particularly the fact that He would rise again on the third day; they did not grasp that it referred to Him as also noted in chapter 17. Chrysostom provides another explanation for their lack of insight: they had heard of another raising a dead person and even witnessed it, but the concept of a dead person raising himself was something they had neither heard nor seen. Similarly, as they observed Jesus Christ's human actions, they believed He would be put to death, leading to their sorrow; yet when they considered His divine acts, they remained disbelieving, failing to realize that it pertained to Him. They misunderstood such declarations, assuming they were metaphorical.

Chrysostom provides insight here: although they were not fully aware of the divine plan, they did know that He would face death, and this caused them sorrow. They had witnessed Him raise others, but the idea of someone rising from the dead by their own power, to live eternally without dying again, was beyond their comprehension. Despite His repeated teachings on this matter, they failed to grasp it. Alongside His impending death, they were particularly frightened by the thought of Him being mocked, beaten, and facing similar torments. As they contemplated His extraordinary miracles, the predictions astonished them, leading them to question, ‘Can He who created all things endure such suffering?’ Thus, they both believed and doubted His words, unable to find peace in them, despite their clarity.

This recognition could have dimmed the fear in the disciples’ hearts and even ignited their aspirations for the Messiah’s reign.

Then, the Lord took His closest disciples, the twelve, aside and shared a somber warning about what lay ahead in Jerusalem. He disclosed that He would be handed over to His adversaries, specifically the Sanhedrin, who would condemn Him to die. However, rather than executing the sentence themselves, they would turn Him over to the Gentiles, the Roman authorities governing Judea. The Gentiles would not immediately carry out the Sanhedrin's decree; instead, they would first ridicule Him, scourge Him, spit on Him, and ultimately put Him to death. The Lord emphasized that all of this was necessary to fulfill the prophecies, concluding with the promise that the Son of Man would rise from the dead on the third day, distinguishing His resurrection from that of Lazarus.

However, this time, the Lord did not offer them the same comfort He had previously (John 11:9-10), but instead, He called the twelve to Himself and provided a clear and specific forewarning of the suffering awaiting Him in Jerusalem. With this explicit prophecy of His impending suffering and death, Jesus moved forward, encouraging His disciples and demonstrating that when His time came, He would voluntarily embrace death.

It is noted that the disciples "understood nothing" of the Lord's prophecy concerning His death and resurrection: "these words were hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what was said."

During their journey, while the sorrowful crowd moved in silence, Jesus summoned the twelve apostles and revealed to them, ‘Your insight is accurate; indeed, we are traveling to Jerusalem, where all that the prophets have predicted concerning the Son of Man will come to pass: He will be handed over to the Gentiles; they will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, scourge Him, strike Him down, and ultimately kill Him; yet on the third day, He will rise again’ (Luke 18:32-33). This was not the first occasion He had shared these details with them, but they had been unable to grasp His previous statements, nor could they comprehend the significance of His words in that moment. Though they had recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God through Peter’s declaration, they could not accept that the Messiah, the Son of God, could face death. If it were impossible for Him to perish, how could He then rise? If Jesus meets death, then He cannot be the Messiah, nor the Son of God. So who is He? These questions lingered, seeking answers that eluded the Apostles; the meaning of His words remained concealed from them, and they failed to understand what was said (Luke 18:34).

Eventually, He paused and summoned them, reiterating for the third time with greater clarity and more striking, distressing details than before that He would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes; that He would face condemnation and be handed over to the Gentiles; that they would ridicule and scourge Him. For the first time, He disclosed the gravest reality, that He would be sacrificed, but on the third day, He would rise again. Their minds, however, were clouded with earthly hopes of a Messianic reign, fixated on the anticipated splendor of the kingdom of God, causing them to overlook His prophecy. They remained oblivious to its meaning and disinterested in grasping it fully, which was further evidenced by a new event that grieved Christ deeply.

19:27-30), anticipating the swift establishment of this kingdom filled with glory, others, the majority, were engulfed in fear. Awareness of the Pharisees’ repeated attempts to kill their Master (John 5:16, 18; 10:31, 39) weighed heavily on their minds—Thomas had recently perceived the trip to Judea as a march towards certain death (11:16). Thus, confronted with their own vulnerability and the fierce animosity they faced, they anxiously considered the peril that loomed not just for their Divine Teacher, but also for themselves, His closest followers.

The Saviour's dual prophecies regarding His suffering, death, and resurrection (Matt. 16:21; 17:22, 23) could have served as significant encouragement for His disciples, affirming God's unwavering purpose, yet these messages had either been forgotten or misunderstood. Knowing the innermost thoughts and feelings of their hearts, the Lord gathered the twelve apostles once again and, for the third time, articulated the upcoming events with greater clarity, as noted by Blessed Theophylact, to fortify their spirits so that when the prophecies unfolded, they might endure with courage and not be caught unprepared, understanding that He would suffer according to His divine will. St. Matthew the Evangelist adds a new element to this prophecy that was absent from previous declarations—the foretelling of death on a cross. The Lord proclaimed, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the written prophecies concerning the Son of Man will be fulfilled: the Son of Man will be betrayed by the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to be mocked with their words; they will strike Him and spit upon Him, and after condemning Him to crucifixion, they will kill Him, but on the third day He will rise again.” Yet despite having heard these revelations before, the disciples remained perplexed, as noted by the holy Evangelist Luke: “These things were hidden from them, and they did not understand the things that were being said.”

The inability of the closest disciples to grasp these truths can be understood as they only attained full spiritual insight after the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Before this divine revelation, as described by St. John Chrysostom, they “either believed or disbelieved His words and could not comprehend them; before the cross, they knew little.” Their thoughts were often entangled with earthly desires, sometimes engaging not with the matters of God but of men (Matthew 16:23). Eventually, witnessing the precise realization of the Lord's predictions regarding His sufferings and death would also bolster their confidence in His wondrous resurrection, providing them with undeniable evidence of His Divinity (1 Cor. 15:14).